The coronavirus pandemic stalled all cricket in the world. In Australia, the World T20 was postponed to 2022 while the Test and ODIs against Afghanistan and New Zealand respectively were postponed to 2021. Australia has close to 27,000 cases of the coronavirus with the hotspot being in Victoria. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, women’s cricket took a backseat with no games played since the end of the ICC World T20 in March.
However, things are slowly returning to normal. The England women’s cricket team is currently playing a five-match T20I series against West Indies in a bio-secure environment in Derby. In Australia, the reigning World T20 champions clashed against New Zealand in the first T20I at Allan Border field in Brisbane.
New Zealand chose to bowl and they had Australia in trouble when Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney both fell cheaply. Meg Lanning and Rachel Haynes tried to build a stand but Lanning fell for 24. But, Ashleigh Gardner was in fine form and she took the attack to the New Zealand bowlers, smashing six fours and three sixes in her knock.
Gardner showed her intent against Amelia Kerr and she hit the legspinner for two sixes and she reached her fifty with two fours off Hayley Jensen. Australia managed 138/6 on a slow deck.
New Zealand struggle
Megan Schutt and Delissa Kimmince were in fine form with the ball as New Zealand struggled. Kimmince got the wickets of New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine and Maddy Green but Schutt ripped through the middle order. Apart from Devine, Suzie Bates looked dangerous but on 33, her vigil was ended by Schutt.
The right-arm pacer took the wickets of Katey Martin, Amelia Kerr and Hayley Jensen to finish with 4/23 as Australia won the match by 17 runs. The second T20I will be played on September 27 at the Allan Border field while the third game will be played on September 30. After that, the series will shift to three ODIs at the same venue beginning from October 3 to October 7.
